Desktop setup

If you want AI doing real work, stop chatting in a browser tab. You set it up right inside your workspace: open VS Code, install the official Claude Code extension, link it to your claude.ai account. From then on the AI sees what is in your folders and works directly in your files. One single prompt then sets up your first project with the blueprint.

The catch: the session runs on your laptop. Close the lid or quit VS Code and it stops. Episode 3 solves that.

• Claude Code from episode 1 and the folder ~/ailoopwise-blueprint
• VS Code 1.94.0 or later: https://code.visualstudio.com
• The Claude Code extension, guide: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/vs-code
• Your Claude account (Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise or Console). No API key needed.

1. Install VS Code and start it.
2. Open Extensions with Cmd+Shift+X (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+X (Windows/Linux), search Claude Code and click Install.
3. File → Open Folder… and pick ~/ailoopwise-blueprint. When VS Code asks whether you trust the folder, say yes.
4. Open any file, for example README.md. Click the Spark icon at the top right of the editor. The Claude panel opens.
5. Click Sign in and confirm in your browser.
6. Copy this prompt in full into the Claude panel and press Enter. It is the same prompt as in the blueprint's README.md:
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   Set up the AILoopwise Blueprint for me. I am not a developer, so explain everything in plain words.
   
   1. Read blueprint/MASTER-BLUEPRINT.md in this folder.
   2. Explain how the blueprint is structured in exactly five short lines.
   3. Then ask me these three questions, one at a time, and wait for each answer:
      a) Which project do you want to work on?
      b) What do you sell, and to whom?
      c) What must the AI never do in this project?
   4. Then run /new-project. If that command is not available, read blueprint/skills/new-project/SKILL.md and follow its steps yourself. Use my three answers as the inputs and only ask for what is still missing.
   5. Create the new project in a NEW folder next to this one (named after my project), not inside the blueprint itself. It must contain: .claude/CLAUDE.md plus tasks/current.md, tasks/lessons.md and tasks/todo.md.
   6. Write my answer to question c) into the new project's CLAUDE.md as hard rules.
   7. Do not change anything in this blueprint folder. At the end, show me which files you created and tell me how to open the new project in VS Code.
   

7. Answer the three questions. For question c) be concrete: "never email real customers" works, "be careful" does not.
8. Claude asks for permission before it creates files or runs commands. Read what it wants to do, then allow it.
9. Open the new project folder with File → Open Folder… and start a new Claude session there. Check:
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   Read .claude/CLAUDE.md and list its hard rules in three lines at most.
   

A finished project file looks like this: examples/CLAUDE-example.md. Your answer to question c) lands in a block like this:

## Hard rules (the AI must never)
- Send to real subscribers. Every send command you run uses --test.
- Write the mail API key into code, tests or git. It lives only in .env.
- Drop or recreate data/subscribers.db without making a copy first.

Open your new project's .claude/CLAUDE.md and read your hard rules yourself once. If one is missing, add it now.

• No Spark icon: it only shows when a file is open. Also: VS Code 1.94.0 or later, reload the window ("Developer: Reload Window"), and the folder must not be open in Restricted Mode. Source: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/vs-code#spark-icon-not-visible
• The extension won't install: check your VS Code version and install straight from the Marketplace: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=anthropic.claude-code
• claude not found in the VS Code terminal: the extension ships its own copy but does not put claude on your path. For the terminal you need the install from episode 1.
• Claude can't find the blueprint folder: tell it directly: My blueprint folder is at ~/ailoopwise-blueprint/blueprint/ (from Install-guide.md, troubleshooting).